A woe is me moment

I'm been feeling a little over it all recently, there's so much going on at the moment I'm finding it hard to stay on top of things. I don't know if it's just me, or if it's the pregnancy hormones, or if I have too much on my plate, or all those things.

We took a family trip to the Dr yesterday, all but my husband needed to see the Dr. The kids cold has worsened yet again, but luckily Mr 1 was able to finally get his shots. I've been having this annoying sinus thing which blocks up my ear if I'm not on meds, but I can't afford to constantly buy meds as well as pregnancy vitamins and of course kids medicine (which is number one priority). So, I've been getting these headaches which won't go away and have been driving me insane.

Mr 2.5 has to see a Pediatric Surgeon, so knowing he might have to have surgery has really upset me, I was really hoping it wouldn't have to come down to this but it looks like it has.

I've got a thyroid issue caused from the pregnancy which has caused me to have palpitations and get dizzy spells if I'm keeping busy, so as a mum of 3 kids, when am I not busy.

I'm trying to gain some control over my house, I know that kids will be kids, and that doesn't bother me, but it seems like every time I try to clean/declutter etc things happen which prevent me from keeping up with it all and I'm pushed back to square one. I've been trying to follow the 21 Day Challenge, but I cannot seem to keep up with it. My kids are not school age yet, so it's so hard to do the toy organising challenge, and any other one I start I can never get finished... I'm gonna do this as I can, I feel as though I owe it to you, my readers, to hurry up and finish the challenge, because that's what I signed up for, but I guess I gotta remember that there's more important things going on at the moment.

I am worried about how we're gonna pay for his surgery if he does require it, we're only just making ends meet as it is. But hubby has decided to try and sell the second car, that will definitely help out.

Everythings due in the past couple and next few months - from Feb 2x rego, new tyres, rates, house and contents ins., 2x car ins... not to mention the fixed rate on the home loan is about to expire so that's something else we gotta worry about..

I'm really wanting to hire a cleaner for a couple of hours per week just to help get on top of things, or put the kids in pre school an extra day per week so I can catch up on some things, or order take away or lite and easy so meals are pre cooked, just so there's one less thing I don't have to worry about... but they all require money and that is one thing we do not have at the moment... Things are tough at the moment. but we are getting by, all bills are getting paid, we're surprisingly able to save for rego/insurance etc, but we don't have room for extra day care, or cleaners.

I have booked a 3d ultrasound as I received a $200 gift voucher from my old employer for my 5 yr service, and hubby has ordered me to spend it on my self, and seeing as though I've been told baby is a girl and then got told he's a boy, I really want to double check...plus I wanna see him/her again, and I can't wait. It's given me something really positive to look forward to and I feel so much better already :)

I'm so sorry for my woe is me moment, I really needed to get that out lol :)

If anyone has any advice or tips they'd like to share with me, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

Miss 4's Bomb site AKA her bedroom

They say a picture's worth 1000 words...

So I'll show you these pictures...

Now, as you know, I've been trying to gain some control over my house... and with this room, I thought I had achieved that... It was freshly painted, gone through, organised you name it I did it...

So when I saw that, I was not at all impressed (I was already a bit stressed, cause Mr 2 has to see a pediatric surgeon, so I'm a little worried with that, plus I had the worst headache).

I was not in the mood to clean but I figured since the mess was adding to my mood, I'd do something about it...

So I put away all clothing, clean ones in their rightful homes and dirty ones in the dirty wash pile. Opened the curtain, and made the bed....

Ohh and somewhere along the way I gained some strange little beings :)

Definitely looks a lot better with the bed made, clothes gone, strange beings gone and bigger junk cleared

Then it was rest time.

I had a nice hot milo and the kiddies had hot choccie milk and rock cakes

And here's the end result :)

Ahhh if only it stays like that :) :)

I've still got to replace that ripped pic and put up her wall pics, but as long as its clean I'm happy :)

An update on the declutter

I'm Trying to declutter as much stuff as I can before bubs arrives. I'm going through the rooms bit by bit so the kiddo's don't catch on to what I'm doing (esp. when I'm purging forgotten toys lol).

Miss 4 asked why I was bagging up some toys and I explained they are going to charity to help people who may not be so lucky to get such wonderful toys as she has and would she like to donate a toy. She happily and proudly said yes, so we head off to her room she starts looking at all her toys, and I could tell she really wanted to help, but she couldn't bare to part with any and she says 'How about a book mummy, can I donate a book?' I was so proud of her, so I picked one a knew she had a double up of, and off she went to pop it into the bag :)

This is what we've taken to the Op Shop so far:



•  8 Bags, mostly toys and clothes
• 1 box filled with clothes
• and a DVD player

I cannot wait to get stuck in and find some more stuff to purge :)

Hope you're all doing well with your journeys/challenges :)

Ohh yeah and I sold a Nappy box full of baby clothes to mum for $30 :)



Quick Tidy of the Nappy drawer.

I've been meaning to use Cloth Nappies on the boys a lot more then I actually have, but with the state my nappy drawer was in, it seemed so much easier to grab a disposable out and that's that. I admit I wasn't bothered searching for the liners, the covers etc (my so called waterproof nappies are the complete opposite, so my cousin has sent over a couple for the boys to try out and I love them).

 

Now I'm a SAHM, we're having to cut costs as much as possible and also, I want to do my part to help the environment. So Cloth nappies it is. This is where I decided it was about time I tackled that drawer lol...

 

Those pilchers are only there because I had just found them in my daughter's drawer lol, otherwise they'd be outa sight....

This lovely layout is thanks to my little darling Mr 1....he loves redesigning :)

• So out comes everything.
• I put aside all rubbish and things that did not belong in the drawer
• I rounded up all the nappy sacks that Mr 1 had pulled out, and for now I've put them in another nappy sack (will put in box or something at later date, this was a very quick tidy)
• Everything was put back in and organised.

Here's the rubbish pile...

And the collection of stuff Mr 1 squirreled away into the drawer :)

I love him, he's so funny lol

and the end result....

 I like it much better this way,

let's see if Mr 1 does too.... (I highly doubt it lol)



  

21 Day Challenge - Day 7 Pantry

Day 7 of A Bowl full of lemon's 21 Day Challenge is the Pantry.

I have gone through and organised all but the bottom shelf which is where we dump store our filing. This will be done on Day 17 which is the Mail.

Here's my before pic:

Very umm...unorganised lol

again so sorry for the blurry pics

• Everything was removed from the pantry and I wiped the inside.

• I then went through and chucked out any rubbish and put aside anything that did not belong in there.

• I had so many packs of things for baking that I placed in a little plastic tray I found. All little baking things like vanilla essence or food colouring etc was placed in a little box. I emptied opened packets into containers and then organised them all.

• I did the same with the other shelves and here's the end result:

Yaaayyy I free'd up a shelf :)

Top shelf is for the electric mixer, slender mixer, yoghurt maker and fondue set

Second shelf down is all baking goods

Next is savoury stuff

Then it's brekky/drinks and the lolly jar in the back lol

Here is what I thought was all the junk...

...Until I realised I missed a shelf...

I have no idea what any of that was doing in there but I'm happy it's gone lol

And here's my umm... filing ...*ahem*

 I'm not looking forward to this one lol

To Do List 10/04/11 - 16/04/11

Every Sunday I'll post a to do list to keep myself accountable throughout the coming week. Anything that wasn't completed within that week will roll ever to the next week.

To Do List, Sunday 10th April to Saturday 16th April:

• Cancel MasterCard  Limit reduced to $500 for emergencies only and fee has been waived :) would've cancelled if they didn't waive fee :)
• Lower limit on Hubby's MasterCard done
• Take boys to Dr's.  done
• Book appt with pediatric surgeon done
• Catch up on and blog about 21 Day Challenge
• Take donations to Op Shop done
• Continue to sort through boys cupboards
• book 3D ultrasound done, can't wait :)
• Ultrasound (Monday 10.50am) He's a boy not a girl as first told

• Bake Rock cakes done
• Make Pumpkin Soup done
• Cut up melon
• Go through Miss 4's cupboard
• Update income estimate for 2011/2012

• Get new tyres for Kluger Got a discount of $9 per tyre off :) woohoo :)
• Book Rego check for Kluger done
• pay green slip done
• Make a Birthday Card for Dad
• Go through boys baby clothes, ready for bub done. can't wait to soak and hang them up ready :)
• Soak and wash Cot quilt set

Our Green Living.

Photo credit: http://www.wellbeing.com.au

There's a lot of talk these day's about greener living and reducing our carbon footprint. Not only is living a greener lifestyle great for the environment, but it's also better for our health and our wallets.

We eventually would love to live a pretty self sufficient and greener lifestyle, but we're working very slowly and getting greener by the day :)

The things we've done so far to help out are as follows:

• Solar hot water (was already here when we bought the house)
• Installed Solar Power
• Started a vege patch
• Compost heap
• Kids bath together
• Reuse bath water to mop the floor
• Slowly reducing our showers (on Sunday I had a 2 minute shower woohoooo, trying to get hubby to beat it but he won't even dare hehehe)
• Use a combination of Cloth Nappies and disposables - I would love to use MCN full time but I find it hard to do with 2 soon to be 3 in nappies.
• Turn things off at the wall when not in use.
• Slowly replacing appliances with Eco-friendly ones.
• Turn the power to the garage completely off.
• Cooking from scratch, reducing the amount of packaging that enters landfill.
• Walking the kids to school as much as possible rather than driving.
• Finding ways to reuse things.
• Switching most cleaning products for water, vinegar and bi-carb and buying Eco-friendly cleaners.
• Line or rack drying clothes.
• Encourage outside play rather then watching TV.

It'll take a while to change to a completely green and self sufficient lifestyle, but I look forward to learning more about it and put all we've learnt into action.